Today we have tested two motherboards based on Intel's X58 chipset from Asus and Foxconn. While users might think that both solutions should be similar, in fact they aren't.

First of all, the motherboards are priced differently, reflecting the target group and o the overall features/retail package of each product. The Asus P6T Deluxe/OC Palm Edition is a fully-armed motherboard for extreme overclocking with some neat features like GateExpress and an external LCD screen. We really enjoyed working with this motherboard. Its stability was superb, the BIOS layout was very familiar and we managed to easily get 4.0GHz out of a Core i7-920. The motherboard really shines at the hands of an experienced user and the memory dividers offer higher memory speeds. It's high retail price is the only negative we could mention, at least compared with the Foxconn Renaissance.

The Foxconn Renaissance was somewhat slower than the Asus P6T Deluxe/OC Palm Edition, mostly due to its lower memory performance. However we don't feel that this should puzzle you if you are looking for a new motherboard based on the new X58 platform. We can say that both motherboards gave more or less the same in terms of performance. However, there were some problems with the BIOS of the Foxconn Renaissance, as it was explained in the previous pages. The available settings were not exactly what the hard-core overclocker could expect. However, the motherboard supported overclocking up to the 3.60GHz point.

To sum up, the lower retail price of the Foxconn's solution makes makes sense to us. Entry level users should take advantage and grab this motherboard for everyday use and also some overclocking,

Candidate buyers will not be disappointed by either motherboard, assuming that they have understood their target groups and their true abilities. We could say that the Asus P6T Deluxe/OC Palm Edition is the appropriate weapon for overclockers, while the Foxconn Renaissance is a good X58 performer for users with less overclocking ambitions.